Honda: Civic Sounds

DTDigital and Honda have a lot in common. We’re both brands that believe in the power of creation. So when a brief came through to give Honda’s most iconic nameplate its energy back, we knew we couldn’t just make an ad. We needed to create an experience.

Introducing Civic Sounds, an online interactive that makes researching cars less about brochure downloads and more about creating a personal experience.

It started with a rumble

We believe that a big idea comes only when a variety of minds work together.

Right from the beginning we worked closely with Honda’s general advertising and media teams. We spent a week working on the brief off-site. There were no computers, just pens, paper and lots of coffee. By Friday, three top directions were chosen. From there, we fleshed them out and the big idea was selected. Civic Sounds – an interactive experience that allowed users to create their own soundtrack using the all-new Civic as their instrument.

Proof of concept and exploration

So we had our big idea but could it be done? If it could be done, has it been done before? And if it has, how could we do it differently? All of these questions now needed to be answered. To help us, we brought our Creative Technologist on board, and met with composers and sound engineers. After weeks of exploration and experimentation, we had enough to prove it was possible.

UX and strategy

Working in parallel to the sound team were UX and strategy. They progressed through countless iterations trying to solve one key problem: how could we create something that takes a moment to learn but a lifetime to master? Weeks of research and wireframes later, we settled on a user journey that kept the process simple for our consumers, but always gave them a reason to return.

Prototyping

For those of us born without a composer's ear, creating music can be tough. So the next challenge we faced was to create a prototype where it was impossible to hit a bad note, but possible to create a track that's entirely unique. Our Interactive Team experimented with scores of options in order to give users an intuitive experience as soon as they started.

Design

With everything else well under way it was down to the look. We needed to create something that could live as a part of the Civic showroom, but still stand out in its own right. The result? The dark and modern palette of Honda's online showroom, broken up with energetic colours.